I really liked this book, actually! Sure, it didn't deliver as well as I was expecting, but it had some great moments where I genuinely felt scared for our characters.. especially Rand's taking hold of Callandar towards the end, where he ended up killin Adley and some other of his own because of his ignorance of the dangers of the sword as Cadsuane later explained in this book... He made a lot of mistakes, and we see him killing Fedwin via poison, just a small boy who had gone mad.. and it was a really powerful scene for me. It was the first time I really felt sad for a character death, and Fedwin wasn't even a main character or one we saw a lot, but the fact that he was just a boy who had seen what no boy should see then went mad then died in the embrace of Rand.. it made me sad. It struck me the most. Thank you for doing a review that does not reveal anything of the books ahead, almost all videos I've seen so far spoil the later books without warning but I really liked this video!

The audiobooks got me through the slog! I recommend sticking with them for a couple more books!

The lack of Mat in this book is serious detriment

I really like what you had to say about the different reading experiences you get reading vs listening. Right now. I'm reading and listening to lord of the rings and I am finding it a bunch better experience than when I read it before. The over detailed prose that used to drive me nuts is something I find much more enjoyable to listen to.

Don’t worry, Path of Daggers is no ones favourite book! In my opinion the series is well worth finishing, even with the sag in quality in the middle.

The audiobook narrators of this series are great, good choice to get the audiobooks.

I just finished it and I don't know if it was because I listened to it so fast but it felt way less sloggy than the last book did which took me like a month to finish it. Idk if this is as bad it gets still extremely happy with this series

Sick tool shirt. Great review.

Highlights 1 bowl of winds is altering how saidin and saidar - may be causing acceleration in madness - seen with damane and suldam and Rand . 2. Rand focusing on keeping an eye only on his enemy and ignoring his allies , has caused distrust . 3 Elayne is finally in andor 4 egwene is finally heading towards white tower .

Even the "Hello" was saying "i did not like this f***ing book" XDDD If you enjoyed the book a little bit more through audiobook i recommend to you to do the same thing for books 9 and SPECIALLY 10. I think you will enjoy more book 9, just because Mat returns (sorry for the mini tiny spoiler but i think it is something you need to hear right now XD)

One of my biggest gripes with these types of series by KZfaqrs is that they always review every book as if it was an independent entity in a vacuum and not a very small part of a much broader picture. When I read wheel of time or malazan it’s as a complete picture not a bunch of disjointed pieces with no connection back to the whole

Haven't read a single thing of Wheel of Time, but I love listening to you talk about books, especially when you're tearing into them.

Stick w/ the Audiobooks for the next 2 books. I earlier mentioned the series' being a deep inhalation & exhalation. The lungs are almost full w/ this book & the inhalation has almost stopped. Book 10 is the height of the slog (the held breath). Make it through that & you are home free.

Also you should prolly consider Audioing the next 2 IMO lol.

Whaaat just finished and it wasnt that bad haha at least it was short, never felt slow to me.

Preach on the constant complaining of gender “differences”. I’m not that far into the series and I’m already tired of it 😒 lol . Loved this review!

I'm glad you shared your thoughts!! 🙂

This is exactly why I never started reading WoT. I fully believe that the overall story is awesome, but I refuse to spend my time on a 14 book series where 1/3 of the books are just a huge slog. Too many great series out there that keep the quality up for the whole ride.

Just a heads up, you might need an extra cup of kaf to get through the prologue of Winters Heart. It took me ten tries to get through it without falling asleep. Ultimately I had go back to the beginning and reread the whole series before I had the momentum to finish that damn prologue!

Love that cover.

I totally understand you with this book 📖 and i only gave it a two stars ⭐️ please stay safe love from John in Australia

Glad my comment helped you appreciate Faile! I actually think this book was an improvement over A Crown of Swords. You get some great moments with Elayne/Nynaeve/Aviendha and see Rand descend further into this madness. He's becoming increasingly short-tempered and you're starting to see the effects of his madness more. I think Winter's Heart is even better but YMMV on these middle books. Mat has a great arc and it has one of the best endings in the series so far. I'm wrapping up book 10 though and it's rough. No excuse for Perrin's plot being this boring.

I’m halfway through Towers of Midnight. It doesn’t get any better till Knife of Dreams, and that book is awesome. 2 books left and I’m actually sad it’s going to end soon...

I agree. It was a slow moving book

Agree with most of your opinions on this one. Can't really face reading the next book yet😂

I just scanned my way through the slower parts, I am just about to start reading Towers of Midnight of a 2nd time

You don't have bad taste in books if you enjoy Path of Dangers.

I think book 9 is easily the best of “the slog” (7-10), especially with Mat being more of a focus. I think Rand gets some great character development in the book too, so you might appreciate that (though if I remember correctly, a lot of that development stems from that battle in this book, and he deals with what happened then in book 9. I think it’s very satisfying, hopefully that’s not much of a spoiler)

I actually didn't mind this book. I had a much harder time with most of Fires of Heaven and Lord of Chaos. Those books were brutal to read, but had fantastic endings. This book was fine to read bit the ending was meh 🤷🏿‍♂️

Ha ha ha, great review, there are some good things and really annoying things in WOT. Yes Matt is my favorite as well

Aha! This is what I get for staying up late reading while living on the other side of the world. Worth it? Blood and ashes, yes!

baller Tool shirt also this was such an entertaining review

Reading that book It was pure torture. Maybe I should have did the audio as well. It is the shortest book but took the longest for me. Perrin use to be my favorite but fell off and I feel bad for Faile but I still hate her lol. But you have to have a low end to appreciate a high end with quality I believe. They Crowned Rand as King only highlight to me.I realize all your books can't be the best so I accepted it for what it was is. There are 7 books left including the prequel if you count that where the books can recreate that magic in the first books of the series but at a higher level. I think we will be rewarded when we finish the whole series though.

Really enjoyed the book albeit my least fave of the eight so far. I'm not feeling this "slog" though I can understand why it irked some as it lacked certain pre-set expectations such as huge finale and your fan faves being back benchers as a slew of new faces get more page focus. Some big twists really seem to set up next book, lucky I have it on hand to start vs wait as folks did back in the day (perhaps the slog is more synonymous with older fans of the series vs pacing myself with little delay between books save by choice).

"Where's Rand." -me, a Rand fan boy, for the entire series. "Perrine could go die... and I wouldn't care at all." I felt that.

I made the switch to audiobook for book eight as well and I never looked back. It really helped me to push through the next few books in the series, though I do think this is the weakest instalment in the series. Winters Heart isn't great either, the first 2/3 are dreadfully slow and tedious but it makes up for it with one of the best finales in the series. The lack of Matt and Rand in this book really kills my enthusiasm for it, you're right it absolutely is a lot of the c tier characters. Also, I couldn't agree more, Jordan's constant writing on how men and women differ so much etc... honestly so freaking annoying, maybe if I was 13 I might have found it funny or something, as a 27 year old though it's just ridiculous. Perrin isn't a character at this point in the series, too much Faile love and not enough self love.

The good news is that all the "slug" books are better on reread. I liked seeing the Seanchan side of their conflict with Rand. Keep in mind that when you see certain Seanchan general in later book (10 i think) because even though you think he is a new character you actual saw him here first. The same thing can be said about another character that share the scene in book 10 except you saw this character first back in book 4 I think. Good video keep it up

Hi 👋 a lot of people say that Robert Jordan book after 6 book goes slow or bit down hill.... I’m sure it will get better 😊😊😊 like ur videos!! 📖🎬

LOL, i have not heard of many loving this book, it has some great scene's but as a whole it was rather ok, dont feel bad, as you are finding them after they have been complete, imagine waiting years, and this is what you get. I agree with you about Perrin and Faile, and must admit on rereads, i skip their chapters mostly. Hope the next books get back to where you like them, but i think that may be a book or two away

On Winter's Heart: Mat will not disappoint you. Perrin likely will. The action scene at the end is so mind-blowingly important that Jordan thought including reaction scenes to it in Book 10 was a good idea. After Book 9 I declared the slog to be over and rejoiced. Books 11-14 were better.* Perrin's whole relationship is problematic. He's constantly trying to take care of her, which she neither needs nor wants, does not tell her important things (that he can smell emotions), etc. When you read it the first time, it's from his point-of-view, and you know he's trying and it ain't working. But you don't give him his fair share of the blame. On the Poly quartet: remember that it's literally the end of the world, and the best-case scenario in the prophecies is that Rand bleeds out saving everyone. They've got all these things to do to try to save the world, and their boyfriend has things he has to do incompletely different places, and he's gonna die...The fact that they have to share the guy is the least of their worries in this relationship. *Book 10: we do not speak of Book 10 anymore than absolutely necessary.

raaaaand give me RAAAAAND AL THOOOOOR

Haha I'm really interested to see your review for Winter's Heart.

Oh I don't think I could get through the series if I wasn't listening to it as well

This series are that I love and hate at the same time. If it makes any sense.

Yes i liked the book more than you, and i feel the Aes Sedai are worth getting to know even though there are admittedly a metric shit ton of them. I agree with you in your initial Faile feelings. She is by far the most hated character for me, and that includes all the evil ones. Like i would take Savannah out to dinner before i even would glance twice in Faile's direction. And speaking of smelling emotions. how the hell does Perrin do that? I mean, i get that fear gives off a scent, so maybe other primaries like love and hate can too. But i seem to recall Perrin smelling a guys insanity, and another persons confusion. Like, even if he could smell all these almost abstract things in people's heads, how in the world does it know what it is that he's smelling? Like "Sniff sniff, oh that guy smells confused. I'd know that smell anywhere." Did he download a database of smells and what they mean or something? I always felt that was stupid. I'm just rambling, i'm a little high.

Hello. I finally DNFed WoT. Wasn't enjoying it. made Malazan feel like a cake walk. but i enjoy listening to others talk about it.

Too many of the C list characters that I don’t care about. There is no way I can memorize all their names. One point I would add is that the villains in this book are ridiculous. I can not see Sevanah or the Prophet on the same level as the Forsaken or their Great Lord. To be honest, even 13 forsaken are too many.

I enjoyed this book compared to the next two, even though the ending was a let down. I wasn’t prepared for the slog. I thought it was just me that didn’t enjoy those books as much as the others. Didn’t look up any reviews on the series until I was done. My second read through of the series, I didn’t read the Faile or Perrin parts in winter’s heart and crossroads of twilight. Not all bad but I enjoyed the books more without them.

Brittany i agree witb you on this book the path of daggers was my least favorite book in the series i gave it a 2.5 stars on goodreads myself dont get me wrong i enjoyed that perrin came back in this book but it seem like it wasnt enough to love it so maybe winter hearts hopefully be better then the path of daggers thanks for you book review on youtube i really appreciate it all girl. When u starting winter hearts book 9? Im starring july for it

I just finished the book myself and while I really liked book 7, this was just tough for me to get through. That prologue was just brutal and a whole bunch of nothing. Very few characters moved forward except Egwene that, even then, just got a tiny nudge forward into embracing her new position and using her power. I find the politics of this world and even in that regard this book was lacking.

What is that rad intro riff from mate?!?!

Perrin is the jon snow of wot. The slow loveable odd ball everyone loves who grows up to be a giant whiny bummer lol.

I finished reading the path of daggers a few days ago this book was a total slog definitely will be going into the worst book category of 2023 😬😖😱

Rand's further decline into madness is hard, but interesting to read

I strongly agree on the use of the audio books. They helped me get through the parts I was not enthusiastic like Perrin or Elayne's at some point. I don't even remember the ending of this book lmao. One of the things that bugged me about the romance, aside from being insta love on most cases, it's how idiotic some of the women behave. They're fine until a man comes and suddenly they don't know how to do anything. Some of them are Aes Sedai, OLD women, portrayed like high schoolers, not a fan. Onto the disregard of the opposing sex, I read pretty early on my read of this series that RJ intent was an exposition on sexism and how stupid it is. Like some woman would say "Men only know how to gossip" and 3 seconds later said woman would do that too. Ultimately I think it works to show that both sexes are human and commit the same mistakes or smt. That helped cope with the annoyance at some of the comments they would throw on way or another. Particularly I enjoyed the Tower's conflict and Nyneave struggles lol. She hits the wall in book 5 in regards her attitude and its consequences and here we see her unable to find a footing. Even this kin woman knows how to manage people better than her. She's one of the most powerful channelers but nobody really regards her as a figure of authority. All her missteps at this point are imo related to her search for a place in this world,.She's constantly failing to do shit because there's someone better or more experienced, and so she gets shoved into a corner doing nothing. I'm interested to see were will she go from here. What answer will she get, if she does get any.

Agree with you wholeheartedly. This series has the most annoying characters in all of existence honestly. The gender dynamics and dialogs are so cringe that it makes me thinks they are all 12 year olds.

With the gender thing, I think many people miss the difference between the characters' bias and the actual plot. While the characters are always talking and thinking (in their internal monologue) about their stereotypes, we can see that it's not really the case. Men and women think (in their head) that they are different but in their actions we see something totally different. There is a lesson in there.

2.5/5 is very generous. Even with the audiobooks I had to flat out skip at least 8 chapters. This is the best terrible book series out there.

While most people dislike books 9 and 10 the most (for good reason), Path of Daggers was BY FAR my least favorite. So do with that what you will

This book could have been a mail

Path of Daggers was my least favourite in the entire series - it gets much MUCH better!

I felt like books 9 and 10 got progressively worse/more boring but it picks back up in book 11.

So far book 6 and 8 are my least favourites book 6 was meandering and all over the place but 8 was just slowwwwww. I'm currently about 70% through book 9 and I'm enjoying it a lot more because there's a lot more going on and Mat is back! 🎉 Yeah there are some slow moments but as a whole it's a lot better than book 8. If book 10 is as bad as everyone says it is I will probably blast through the whole thing on audiobook.

Man, judging by your ratings of books 7 and 8, book 10 is going to shock you!

At least *somebody* likes Faille... And, yeah, the whole men-are-from-Mars/women-are-from-Venus thing gets old really fast when overplayed this much. With the polyamory feeling forced, I was actually in the Min/Rand camp. I like Aviendha, but just not with Rand. Same with Elayne.

haha nah 2.5 is about right for this one mate, might even be a little generous tbh - stay the course though, it HAS to be 2.5 for the end to be a billion out of 10, upon reflection.

Yep solid rating. I disagree, for me this is a bad book. The only way I was able to get through this was by listening to it at work. Having finished the series it feels like to me that the last half of the series could have been done in half the page count. I like Perrin but he was not fleshed out to my satisfaction. I will say it is difficult to have 3 main characters but dang man couldn't you at least try.

2 more slog books to go. I just found that almost nothing really happens in each of them. Audiobook readers are fantastic.

Slow and boring. Does not really pick up until the brandon sanderson books

Just grit your teeth and push through the next two :) totally worth getting out the other side.

LoL told ya it was a filler book lews whistling and playing with rand ear when ever he sees a pretty woman made me laugh book mind is lots better and sleeping of book nine when are you starting it

7-11 are slogs. Even more than half of 12 is as well imo. You’ve gone this far though, so might as well continue. I think by the end you’ll be disappointed however, the ending is not as grand (and grandeur especially of power is what kept me reading) as you probably imagine and the drop in writing quality is so apparent half the time you’re just cringing. Maybe I’m just projecting my tastes on to you but I find I consistently agree with your book reviews, your book rankings etc.